Mirandae

Regalia

Tactical Map

^{♫ 6}

_{[Date/Time] Sunday, 08:00, September 15
[Weather] Partially cloudy, sunny
[Temperature] 16c / 60f
[Target] @TokyoPewPew}

The alien swarms were seemingly endless. The surface of the waters near the harbor were violent, as if infested with marine life trying to rip each other apart, casting waves and ripples all around them. Before long, A grotesque beast emerged from the turbulent bay. It was massive, rivaling even the largest Dominant forms known to the people of Libra. Its repulsive screech vibrating the foundation of the structures of downtown Landow. The ravenous minions seemed to heed its call immediately, turning their vile bodies, forming new swarms, being directed with purpose. It was a clear display of intelligence, a shared mind at the center of the brood. The beast had a maw riddled with razor sharp teeth, limbs of humanoid feature, and thick sensory antenna-like fins at the back of its neck. The invading creatures grew more threatening by the minute, and this seemingly psychic leader of the swarm only elevated the terror further.

However, before the beast could advance towards the harbor any further, a violent explosion of water engulfed it. It was Leviathan’s silvery scales that had ascended from the depths and wrapped itself around the monstrosity. An exchange of claw and tooth ensued, the otherwise clear waters being painted dark with a mixture of blood from both combatants. The swarming brood around the two giants began to latch themselves onto Leviathan, ripping flesh and scales apart. The impacts of bites and punches, strange magic and abilities echoed throughout the air of Landow with thunderclaps and shock waves. The roars and screeches from the two godly beasts culminated in a spectacular but horrific defeat of the Great Sea Serpent. The invading monstrosity gorged Leviathan’s head clean off and let the remains sink to the bottom of the bay. Followers of Leviathan that were able to see the terror inducing display dropped to their knees in tears and prayer, some of them just accepting their inevitable death by the ripper swarms. The death of a Regalia was never something that people took lightly.

The shore began to shimmer as Leviathan’s residue washed up. It was a bizarre mixture of water and blood along with some putrid substance this world had never experienced before. Some of the piranha minions fervently consumed the residue and mutated, growing a slightly larger and more teeth. The great beast had also become emboldened by its first victim, advancing towards the shore with fierce confidence, directing the swarm to move further inland and ignore the immediate threats. Any person with even a basic knowledge of military tactics would be able to pick up on the intelligence that this creature exerted. However, the actions of Odin’s Regalia on the shore seemed to disrupt its psychic connection to the swarm, at least momentarily. The beast immediately focused its attention on Yrkhalabeth, letting out a grotesque, deafening wail as it rapidly waded through the remaining shallow waters to attack.

The beast lunged at Odin. The decisive movement violently parted the waters by the creature’s feet, forcing the displacement to strike against the docks of the harbor. It swiped with its massive claws at Odin’s enveloping shadows, testing this new enemy’s capabilities. Waves of ripper swarms accompanied the beast and converged on Odin’s location. If Leviathan’s sacrifice was any testament, Odin would presumably need some kind of assistance from the other Regalia at the festival. However, the Forms of the Dominants were almost as unequal as the Dominants themselves. If one could easily defeat one of them, there was no guarantee that the next fight would even be remotely close to the same outcome.

Cards 11/20

_{[Interactions] @Silly}

The plushie she had received from Akamu rested safely in Laura’s lap. Some of the children had taken an interest in it and poked at the scorch marks, glancing at her Dominant Form with curious eyes. Gaia smiled at the little ones, her shimmering eyes speaking to them through empathy and energy rather than words. It was uncommon for Regalia to speak in their Dominant Forms even if they were able to. However, such speech would be very loud and taxing on the human ear, and the language would most likely be completely alien unless a person had studied it somehow. Laura had never spoken in her Dominant Form, nor was she planning to. When intention, emotion, and direction of your thoughts and feelings were enough to convey a message, the need for typical speech sort of faded away. Besides, everything that Laura ‘said’ with this method was an equal part what Gaia wanted to say. The Dominant Form surely was a strange symbiosis between God and human beings, still bewildering Laura after what she thought was a long time spent as Gaia’s chosen.

Gaia smiled at Nia for guiding the lost lambs to comfort within the green dome. The Earth Mother observed the dark haired beauty closely as the purple light in her eyes inspired mists to form all around them in the distance, and close by. It would make their protective garden secret, hidden behind walls of rock and stone, away from the vile invaders. Yet, Gaia sensed the urge in Nia to assist further, to employ her gifts in their full display, to impose a challenge upon the ravenous creatures. Gaia stretched out her arm towards Nia, a single finger tip gracing the dark haired girl’s nose, mending the bleed. Then, the Earth Mother pointed to a small section of the dome behind Nia that appeared more transparent than the rest of it – a hidden way out, temporarily. Gaia returned her finger and placed it over her lips, keeping eye contact with Nia, indicating secrecy.

Gaia returned her attention to the children all around her, nestled up against her frame. Some of them were playing with the flowers, some being distracted by their worried parents, and others dozing off into slumber. The appearance of the beast and its vile noises were not readily noticeable within Gaia’s dome. Most of the people did not react to it at first, but some of the adults did hear, feel, and see the brawl between Leviathan and the beast. As the Great Sea Serpent was executed in the most gruesome way, some of the adults wailed in despair. Even Gaia shed a tear for her fallen sister, whose sacrifice would not be forgotten. Alas, the Earth Mother could do nothing but remain within the secret garden, protecting the herd, focusing on strengthening the barrier even further.

Regalia

@Aeolian@vietmyke@Teyao@TokyoPewPew@Silly@CaliforniaState

Writing next GM-post today/tomorrow, so expect it to be up before Wednesday!

Also, @Tlaloc is going to take a break from us. Hopefully he can return at some point!

Regalia

Loving the cards so far. How much Posture does each character/NPC have? Or is that one of those hidden, GM-only stats you alluded to earlier?

@TokyoPewPew

Indeed. But, it's similar to the 'health' bar. NPCs will vary a lot, of course, but all the player characters have the same amount. I'm planning to add more core cards that manipulate this, just like there are 2 cards for 'critical hit/damage'. But, your specific character/Dominant cards can also be 'buffs', if you want them to.

Regalia

_{[Location] Food Stands
[Time] Sunday, 07:30
[Interactions] @vietmyke@Silly@Aeolian}

Akamu was as reassuring as ever, truly a lighthouse in stormy seas. Perhaps Laura was biased on the matter, but people all around him always seemed to listen and take comfort in his presence. Laura could not do much else other than to heed the man’s word and fall for his mesmerism. And, if that was not enough, the dark haired beauty with a voluptuous figure that kings would wage war over certainly had Laura convinced. The blonde’s eyes widened and her lips separated into a stupefied default, just staring at Nia for a few seconds, faintly hearing what was being said. Laura’s dumb expression slowly turned into a blushing smile, which she casually covered with a hand, keeping eye contact with the dark beauty.

The only response that Laura could crack after Nia had delivered her thoughts on the situation was “Wow...” and then catching herself in embarrassment, a few teeth nibbling on her lower lip. “I mean, you’re right, I’ll see to them in a moment. I’m just a bit take aback – I mean, I’ve seen you before, in a video, and you look a bit different in person, but in a good way. So, it’s nice to meet you.” Laura smiled with rosy cheeks at the dark beauty, and then nodded at big bother’s approval of Nia’s suggestions.

Laura was brought back down to earth from her little high when the Dreamer made an appearance in the conversation. The young man was like a holy relic, revered in more than one way by so many, and an illustrious profession to go with it. Laura returned the bow and said “The honor is entirely ours, Dreamer.” The blonde was thoroughly distracted by these two wonderful Regalia that had decided to make themselves known in the masses. Luckily, there were urgent matters to discuss, which was the perfect interruption for Laura’s fangirl intoxication.

The entourage had come to halt by the food stands. The lovely scent of enticing meats and freshly baked bread filled the air and probably made bystanders hungry despite the pressing situation with the meteor shower, which refused to stop. The families that had followed Laura and Akamu found themselves inching closer to the conversation. They were naturally curious and worried at the same time about what was unfolding, and if there were any plans for the security detail to make a statement. Laura paid close attention to the back and forth between Akamu and the security guy, which seemed more like Akamu just telling them what to do. A faint chuckled escaped Laura as Akamu’s voice became stern, covering her smile with her hand so as not to distract the moment. Those little swings out of his typically jolly self were rare, and she had only seen it once before. Laura nestled into the man’s embrace as much as she could, gracing her lips against his cheek again, and listening to his instructions with great attention, even though a faint worry about him lingered in the back of her mind.

As they were about to lead everyone to a safer environment, commotion and screams could be heard coming from the harbor area. The noise was somewhat drowned by the sounds from the food stands and all the people and children moving about, but it would not be difficult for Regalia to notice. “Something’s happening by the beach,” Laura said as she turned around towards the source of the disturbance. Only a few seconds passed before the masses became aware of what was happening, and when some individuals came running in panic from the direction of the harbor, things began to spiral out of control. The families that were close to Laura and the others had different ideas of what was considered ‘safe’. Some of them simply grabbed their kids and began hastily walk away, whereas others clung onto the Regalia that they knew.

Laura was too short to see it herself because of her angle with the harbor and some objects blocking her view, but the threat made itself known nonetheless. Libra was no stranger to monstrous creatures. Throughout all of history, animals had come in contact with Crystals and consumed them for whatever reasons or by accident, and then grown in size and gained terrifying abilities. Nothing screamed ‘monster’ more than a wolf the size of an elephant shooting laser beams of some unknown element out of its eyes. While these occurrences were rare and not as extreme as old folk tales would have you believe, they did happen. However, the hideous things that had swarmed out of the waters of Landow were completely unknown to this world. They were large, crustacean-like mutations, the size of a normal dog, with razor sharp teeth, covered with carapace of varying hues and many limbs. The sight of them moving as thick, rapid liquid in swarms was surely terrifying, even for the likes of elite soldiers and Regalia.

The security detail drew their weapons and opened fire as soon as the things lunged at a group of people closer to the harbor, devouring them in seconds like starving piranha. Laura and the families still around flinched and kept their heads down. All the children were already crying, expressions of pure horror on their faces, clinging to their mothers, some of them holding on to Laura. Everything happened so fast, and total chaos erupted among the people at the festival, as the hostile and seemingly endless swarm approached. The gunfire was deafening, but the creatures seemed to be rather fragile to its destructive force. However, what the monstrosities lacked in endurance, they made up for in numbers and speed. “Change! Change! Change!” Laura’s security detail shouted at her while firing his weapon. There was no time to make it to any shelter or basement. The remaining families would be devoured to the bone within a minute unless the Regalia at the festival acted. The alien force was overwhelming, and the security detail, while able to stand their ground quite well, would succumb to the same fate as the families a minute later.

Laura closed her eyes for a second. The image of Gaia came to her mind instantly, the serene woman of the planet smiling at her. Tiny flowers and grass sprouted through cracks of the concrete at Laura’s feet, and the sweet scent of pine tree filled the air around her. The transformation itself happened within a second. Depending on who the Dominant of a Regalia is, the change might look quite bizarre. Laura grew tall and her skin turned green with roots and leaves replacing her clothes, which were torn and left on the ground. The children around her stood in awe and their attention was on Gaia immediately, feeling a sense of relief and distraction from the danger. Laura hovered a few inches above the ground in her Dominant form, breathing in and out at a meditative pace. She slowly descended and sat on the ground, opening her arms for the children and their families to come closer. A translucent, shimmering barrier of a spherical shape emanated from Laura and engulfed everyone that were close by. Inside this soothing dome, sounds from the outside became almost completely silent, vision of the outside was hazy, the pleasant scent of pine tree was more intense, and Gaia’s residue saturated the people in a calming state of mind.

Gaia cast a glance at Akamu. While she did not verbally express anything, the intent of the emotion in her eyes were clear. There was nothing that was more important for Laura to do at this time, and this location had to be protected in any way possible. She had to sacrifice a lot of her attention and focus to keep these people safe and calm, so any heroic deeds were out of the question for her. The barrier of some greenish tint could to some extent physically block things from entering, but there was no telling what these outlandish insects could do or how powerful they were.

^{♫ 5}

_{[Location] Landow, Estren
[Date/Time] Sunday, 07:30, September 15
[Weather] Partially cloudy, sunny
[Temperature] 16c / 60f}

Regalia

Edit:

Updating combat cards in the first OOC post, under the Codex!

Regalia

@Aeolian@vietmyke@Tlaloc@Teyao@TokyoPewPew@Silly@CaliforniaState

Pushing forward on Friday this week.

Regalia

So, @rabidbacon will take a break from us as well. Hopefully we can reconnect later on when things are stable.

@Aeolian@vietmyke@Tlaloc@Teyao@TokyoPewPew@Silly

I think it might be time for me to say something about activity/consistency: I don't want to have to remind people to post in a game that I run. It only shows that the person isn't interested enough, so there's no point in participating. It also makes it seem like I'm forcing someone to do this, which isn't the case as you are here of your on volition.

If the game is no longer interesting to you, then just tell me. I respect that a lot more than half-assing everything, making others wait. This leads us to the posting schedule. The 10-day limit is there to allow other things in life to disrupt you. It's not there to stroke laziness and everyone posting at the last minute.

I don't like to type this kind of stuff up as rules beforehand because it's just common courtesy, adult responsibility, or just friendly consideration -- call it whatever you want. This is especially true if others are waiting for your posts in order to continue. This is a very team oriented hobby, so selfishness and lone-wolf stuff doesn't really work.

Regalia

@Aku the Samurai has decided to take a little break from this game for now. I hope they'll return further down the line! We'll stay in touch and Aku is welcome to hang around the Discord server as well.

@rabidbacon Chat with me on Discord when you're able!

@Aeolian@vietmyke@Tlaloc@Teyao@TokyoPewPew@Silly

And a question for everyone: are you okay with 'character stats' in the combat system? I wasn't planning on doing that to keep it simple, but I've done it before for sure. If you're okay with it, then I have no issues with including it again in this game.

Regalia

_{[Location] Harbor ➙ Food Stands
[Time] Sunday, 07:00 - 07:30
[Interactions] @vietmyke}

A slight déjà vu befell Laura when he mentioned his name, Mathias Voss. Where had she heard that before? She could swear on all things holy that the name rang a bell. It must have been mentioned in one of the countless ‘lore’ videos about Regalia that Laura had seen, but she just could not place it in the heat of the moment. Her suspicion that Mathias was Regalia himself was just within reach of being revealed before they were all interrupted by the wonder in the skies and the children being elated. Laura wanted to ask Mathias what he was about to say about Regalia, but the security detail was so adamant about relocating that the inquiry slipped her mind. She returned Mathias’s bow and wished him well before the crowd of kids and parents surrounding her slowly set off towards the food stands.

“Come on then!” Laura smiled at Akamu, as the jolly mountain caught up. No matter where they were in the world, children always came flocking and seemed to feel comfortable around the duo. Laura had not given it much thought before, but it struck her now that it was likely because of Gaia being the first Dominant that the children were introduce to, and Titan not only being a related element but also a friendly presence. “And you can never get rid of these kids easily!” Laura chuckled, watching the little one sit on Akamu’s shoulders and steer him like a robot. She threw a glance beyond Akamu, and slightly over her own shoulder, to see that herds of people were starting to move in the same directions as them. “Uhu, seems like they take this seriously,” she said with muted tone. There was little room for personal musings, however, as the talk of food was at the tip of everyone’s tongues. “Seafood for breakfast?!” Laura gasped. “What kind of seafood do you eat for breakfa—?”

Laura’s words were interrupted by a powerful thunderclap sounding above them in the sky. It was followed by a rumbling roar that she had never experienced before. The shooting stars were all of a sudden extremely close, splashing into the bay just a few kilometers off of Landow’s shore. Laura and many around her flinched at the intimidating sounds, many of the children starting to cry and running for their parents. Small but burning hot debris from the meteors rained down over the festival. The thought of one of the meteors hitting the festival itself certainly began to spread a bit of panic. The security detail dropped all manner of formal courtesy and almost pushed Laura and Akamu forward – “We really have to move,” one of the masked men said with a blank tone. Laura took a step back to avoid being touched by the soldier. Her composure was starting to wane. “If one of these meteors are about to hit us, then we have to change. Are you going to like shoot us or something if we do that?” Laura spoke with a hurried voice, her North Accadian accent starting spill into her words of worry. The security detail was silent for a brief moment. “No, Miss Genevieve, we’re not going to shoot you, but we strongly advise that you use your form as a last resort, preferably at our request. So, with all due respect, let's move to a more secure position where you will not be hit by the debris.” The man did not wait for an answer or acknowledgment from Laura, but simply continued to conspire with Akamu’s security detail, urging everyone in the strongest possible fashion to move forward.

The meteor shower refused to subside. Laura was too distracted to notice, but none of the impacts happened on land. Anything that was close enough to Landow to be seen and heard struck water, almost as if there was intelligence behind their trajectory. As intimidating as the spectacle had become, it was to no surprise that Laura and Akamu had amassed an even larger following of children and their families. If something were to actually happen, these people knew they stood a better chance of avoiding injury when close to Regalia, especially Laura and Akamu, who were known for being protective and healing. “What do we do, big brother?” Laura stepped closer to Akamu as they ventured further towards the food stands and downtown. “Like, are you able to stop a meteor? You can jump at it and punch it or something.” She chuckled, still keeping things lighthearted in a trembling situation.

Regalia

Environment Art

Landow, Estren

^{♫ 4}

_{[Location] Landow, Estren
[Date/Time] Sunday, 07:00 - 07:30, September 15
[Weather] Partially cloudy, sunny
[Temperature] 16c / 60f}